Art and chemistry: the topochemical principle and Las Meninas of Velázquez

From the world of chemistry we can ask ourselves: do we really make efforts to establish connections between our profession and the art forms that bear some relationship to it? Do those of us who teach chemistry in high schools or universities try to stimulate our students to realize that a chemical element, a compound or a reaction can also belong to the world of art? Will a day arrive in which a search for a given compound in chemical databases will provide us with information on paintings, films, and musical or literary works connected in one or another way with that compound?

Alvarez, S.: Music of elements. New J. Chem. 32, 571–580 (2008)

Abstract

The present paper is intended to expose an example of similarity in chemistry and in painting not based on shape or common origin but rather on the concepts they involve. I partly wrote this text in the 1980s. I was then learning solid state chemistry at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. At that time, it became evident to me that there was a possible link between a reaction in the crystalline state and one of the many interpretations of Las Meninas of Velázquez. More precisely, I asked myself if a relation might be found between an organic reaction in a crystal governed by the topochemical principle and the interpretation given by the French philosopher, Michel Foucauld, in his book The Order of Things, of Las Meninas in terms of the topology the gazes of the depicted figures.